How to put the default VC into the TDS 737-700 base

Can anyone help me with this as I can't follow the instructions supplied with the package. Specifically, the bits I'm having trouble with are:-

If you want to install the default 737-800 Virtual Cockpit, do the following:

2. Copy the VC from the default 737-800. IE, SimObjects/Airplanes/B737_800/model/B737_800_interior.mdl and paste it in the /model/ folder of your aircraft. [OK, UNDERSTOOD THAT BIT]

3. Open the model.cfg from your new airplane and copy/paste the following line and save the file:

interior=B737_800_interior [uNDERSTOOD THAT TOO]

4. Copy the texture.cfg file from the FSX 737 aircraft you are copying the VC from and paste it in the aircraft you are copying the VC to. [iNTO WHICH FOLDER IN THE DESTINATION AIRCRAFT DO I PASTE THIS?]

5. Unzip the contents of the FSX_TDS737_CFM56-7B*.zip into your aircraft directory and overwrite any and all files if asked. [WHERE DO I FIND THAT ZIP?]

6. Copy/Paste the FDE (the aircraft.cfg and the .air file) from this update and place it in your TDS 737 folder. [sPECIFICALLY WHICH FOLDER?]

7. Open the aircraft.cfg and edit any line under [flightsim.#] as needed to identify and list the aircraft correctly, such as the airline name, texture folder, call sign, etc. Pay special attention to the instructions at the TOP of the aircraft.cfg file. If you edit the wrong thing(s) on the TITLE= line, you will lose parts of your airplane. [GULP! DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND THAT AT ALL!!!!]

Thanks in advance for any help.

I had nothing but troubles with TDS planes. Everytime I try to get the VC working the plane goes to crap and stops working. I ended up just using POSKY aircraft because;

A.) They work

B.) They can be easily edited

C) The 737NG cockpit works great with them.

4) into the recipient plane's Texture folder.

5) is it one of the TDS 737 plane download files? I can't seem to find it anywhere...Maybe on the TDS site? something like that?

6) The base TDS 737 folder you installed. Like C:\Games\FSX\Simobjects\Airplanes\TDS_737 just for example.

7) The TDS planes have a security feature they use to ensure that it's their airplane textures, model etc being used. If you look in a TDS plane's aircraft.cfg (Notepad or something like that will work best) under each plane's [flightsim.3] (note: there will be one entry like this for each individual paint job, panel version, etc) for example you will see a line like title=TDS_737 blah blah blah. If you look at the top of the aircraft.cfg file, you will see the "codes" they require to be in the title= line otherwise your plane won't display it's wings. It will FLY normally, just won't LOOK right. Each different thing you want the plane to display, ie: different panel, different paint schemes, different sound files, whatever, needs a separate entry in the aircraft.cfg. Like say you have the base model, [flightsim.0]. it will have title=, panel=, texture= etc under it. To add a new paint, let's say, you need a new entry, [flightsim.1]. Under THAT will be all the same whatever= type lines, but with some having different entries after their = sign. At a MINIMUM, the title= line, and the variation= lines must be different in some way. In this example, the texture = line might have "mytexture" after it's equal sign, thus: texture=mytexture. To make this a new plane the title= (title=TDS 737 change to TDS 737 My paint job) line must be different than the one in [flightsim.0], as must the variation=Base 737 change to variation 737 Bill's Paint line. Those are of course examples.

The TDS planes, to display properly, require certain alpha-numeric characters in the title = line, whatever else may be in it. These alpha-numeric characters are what's listed "at the top of the aircraft.cfg file"

THAT'S what #6 means, is all.

I know I didn't get all the answers, and am sorry but I did my best...

Pat☺

Found this in another forum but I got stuck after the second line. Anybody able to translate for a newb?

The way I added the default 737 VC to this model....

Copy/paste the stock B737_800_interior mdl to which ever TDS model folder you want to use.

Make sure to add the model folder name your using to aircraft cfg file. (model=XX)

ADD this line to the model cfg file of same model your using = "interior=B737_800_interior"

Copy/paste all the bmp files and cab file from stock 737 panel folder to the TDS panel folder,

No need to use the stock panel cfg as the TDS panel cfg uses stock VC syntax.

Copy/past the stock texture folder to the TDS root folder, once that's done go into the texture

folder you just put into TDS root folder and delete these 7 bmp's, the texture cfg and thumbnail.

b737_800_1_T

b737_800_1_T_Bump

b737_800_1_T_Specular

b737_800_2_T

b737_800_2_T_Bump

b737_800_2_T_Specular

Fresnel_Ramp

(no need to edit the texture cfg as it already points to the new texture folder you added)

That's all you need to do to add the stock 737 VC to the TDS model.

4. Copy the texture.cfg file from the FSX 737 aircraft you are copying the VC from and paste it in the aircraft you are copying the VC to. [iNTO WHICH FOLDER IN THE DESTINATION AIRCRAFT DO I PASTE THIS?]

Insert the texture.cfg file under every folder named "Texture" and "Texture.XXX" in your aircraft folder.

5. Unzip the contents of the FSX_TDS737_CFM56-7B*.zip into your aircraft directory and overwrite any and all files if asked. [WHERE DO I FIND THAT ZIP?]

Most TDS basepacks come with FS2004-native .mdl (model) files that are not compatible for merging with FSX-native virtual cockpits. (To check if your TDS base model file is FSX-Native, open the .mdl file with notepad and make sure that in the first few characters, you see something like "MDLXMDLH". If you instead see, "MDL8MDLH" then you have an FS2004-Native file.) You can find FSX-Native model files under the TDS 737 v2 Support page in Facebook.

Note that the filename mentioned above has an asterisk after "CFM56-7B." This is because TDS has different model files for each and every minor variation of the 737 Boeing has made. (e.g. -7BE2--W3, -7B--W2, etc.)

Now, choosing the right file can get a bit tricky, but the simplest way to choose the right model file to download from the aforementioned site is to note the name of each model file (e.g. TDSX737_CFM56-7B--W2.mdl) then go to the TDS download page and download the appropriate file (in the case of the example, FSX_TDS737-700_W_MDL_SET_IG30B.ZIP) Once you've downloaded the file, replace the original .mdl files with the new ones provided in the .zip file.

6. Copy/Paste the FDE (the aircraft.cfg and the .air file) from this update and place it in your TDS 737 folder. [sPECIFICALLY WHICH FOLDER?]

This is the main aircraft folder where your .air (FDE) and aircraft.cfg (aircraft information) file will be place alongside the "Model", "Texture", "Sound" and "Panel" folders.

7. Open the aircraft.cfg and edit any line under [flightsim.#] as needed to identify and list the aircraft correctly, such as the airline name, texture folder, call sign, etc. Pay special attention to the instructions at the TOP of the aircraft.cfg file. If you edit the wrong thing(s) on the TITLE= line, you will lose parts of your airplane. [GULP! DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND THAT AT ALL!!!!]

As PhantomTweak mentioned, TDS added a security feature in their aircraft.cfg file so that if anybody messes with the following line found just under the [fltsim.x] line, the airplane will go haywire on them. The 'no-touch' lines are as follows:

// 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2

// 01234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567

What the instructions are asking for is for you to edit each [fltsim.x] (aircraft entry) section so that the aircraft.cfg file can tell the computer which folders and files to look for when it displays the aircraft in flight sim.

If you need any help, holler out again. I also have a TDS 737-700/800/900 compilation (VC merged and working, various repaints, POSKY 737 soundset, etc.) that I can provide at your request.

TseTse, I appreciate all the effort you've gone to there with the screengrabs and all but all that stuff is bit over my head so I'm going but thanks all the same.

The TDS 737-700 with working VC was your goal, question is what airline livery did you want?

And now I'm starting to wonder why I decided to spend an entire hour sitting in front of my computer writing all that technical stuff if it was going to waste anyway when I could have spent it on more useful stuff like registering for my new semester classes. Maybe I just shouldn't.

http://www.fs-freeware.net has some TDS 737NG packages (with VC) but note that most of those packages have a modified VC from the default 737 VC. (I personally don't like the modified "improved" VCs)

The best way to address the entire point of this thread is to fiddle around merging VCs yourself. I got into simming a decade ago and now I consider myself pretty fluent working with all sorts of FS addons. TDS files are known to be very tricky to handle but with enough experience and practice, one can assemble a package with multiple models, liveries and soundsets like a pro.

As PhantomTweak mentioned, TDS added a security feature in their aircraft.cfg file so that if anybody messes with the following line found just under the [fltsim.x] line, the airplane will go haywire on them. The 'no-touch' lines are as follows:

Thanks for the help :D

I am a LOT better at doing rather than telling.

I appreciate the amplification, Tse Tse.

Pat☺

The best way to address the entire point of this thread is to fiddle around merging VCs yourself. I got into simming a decade ago and now I consider myself pretty fluent working with all sorts of FS addons. TDS files are known to be very tricky to handle but with enough experience and practice, one can assemble a package with multiple models, liveries and soundsets like a pro.

The entire point of this thread was to ask if someone could explain the instructions given with the download in simple terms for a newb that wants to spend more time flying rather than working with files etc.!

Thanks again for your time though TseTse. Not your fault it fell on deaf ears like mine.

the tds 737-700 with working vc was your goal, question is what airline livery did you want?

klm

klm

http://www.fs-freeware.net/spaceorbiter/download/52-civil-aircraft/2873-fsx-tds-boeing-737-700-klm

I'll give a try! Update: It's fine!

I can guarantee that the cockpit merge does work. By no means is it easy for someone who has never dealt with the panel.cfg and I learned a lot just working on this problem myself. As you can see by the pics below I not only merged the default but took it one step further by installing the FSND default 737 cockpit upgrade. I can share my planes with you but I can not guarantee it will work. You must first have the FSND cockpit upgraded installed in your 737-800 default aircraft. That part is easy as it uses an installer. If you would like to try some of my aircraft I can put some in my dropbox for you to experiment with. One thing I will tell you for sure. ALWAYS make a back up of any files you plan to change.

http://www.fs-freeware.net/spaceorbiter/download/52-civil-aircraft/2873-fsx-tds-boeing-737-700-klm

 

I'll give a try! Update: It's fine!

Yay! Thanks man!

By no means is it easy for someone who has never dealt with the panel.cfg

There's you talking about me again!

Hopefully all these knowledgeable replies to my question will benefit others.

There's you talking about me again!

 

Hopefully all these knowledgeable replies to my question will benefit others.

LOL, Well, nothing personal. We have all been there. :)